GOLF.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 2 August 1924, Page 10

GOLF.

COMING EVENTS. September I.—American Ladies' Chamrx pionship, at Rhode Island. September 3—Manawatu Ladies’ Open Championship, at Palmerston North. September 3—New Zealand Amateur and Open Championships, at Middlemore, Auckland September 5 to 13 (inclusive).—New Zealand Open Championship, at Middlemore, Auckland. September 16 —Rotorua championship. September 17—Wansranui Open Tournament (ladies) at Belmont. September 19 to 25—New Zealand Ladies’ Gelf Championship meeting, at- St. Andrew’s Links, Hamilton. September 20. American Amateur Championship at Merin. September 29 to October 2.—Auckland Ladies’ Open Provincial Championship and Handicap Tournament at Middlemore. October 6.—Seventh English (ladies’) Close Championship, at Cooden Beach. October 6 and 7. —Miramar Ladies' Open Tournament at Miramar. October 9, .10 and 11 —Wellington Ladies’ Provincial Golf Championship, at Heretaunga. August 29, 30 September 1 and 2. — South Auckland Annual Golf Tournament, at St. Andrew’s, Hamilton.

Next Saturday is the date fixed for the popular annual fixture, Patron’s team v. President’s- team, and given dry weather a most interesting match will result. On the following Saturday the men’s championships will be commenced. The drawing will take place during the week. The Dominion reports that at the Johnsonville links last week a ladies’ medal handicap was won by Miss Joan Page. The course is a nine-hole one about eight miles out of "Wellington, on the New Plymouth line. The rule “replace the turf” or “your divots” should in the wet state of part of the course be more religiously observed now than ever. There is plenty of evidence that many players fail to remember the rule. at times makes such a shot as might elicit the remark, “Having no spades, partner,” meaning presumably that the club is being used to dig in place of a properly designed tool. No one, however, should forget that such a mark in the turf may be the resting place .of some fellow golfer’s ball, or even their own, at the end of a long drive, and this should therefore make everyone careful to do everything possible to hide the traces of such shots. It may lead to language not used in a drawing room, and they may themselves be the offenders in both respects. It behoves everyone to be most careful. The actual origin of golf is as mysterious as that of Topsy. It may have originated in Holland. A letter dated 1618 savs that “no small quantites of gold and silver is transpoiTed yearly out of his Heines’ (Highness) kingdome of Scotland for buying of golf ballis.” An early illuminated manuscript of about 1480 in the Chantilly collection shows figures putting to a post and to a hole. Another in the British Museum made at Bruges about 1520 shows a green in front of a house and a player with a red coat putting at a hole. In the 17th century skates was a popular game, and some old paintings show players on ice without skates. No doubt they got good length drives. The game was then called “kolf.”

Can any one tell me (says a critic in an exchange) what “putting English’’ on a golf ball means? I have been reading an American golf paper, most of which is in English and I understand it—but how do you ‘ ‘put English ” on a golf ball? A writer on putting says: “In allowing for the slope of the green do not try to cut or put English on the ball. Putting English on a golf ball to me is like handing a baby an old-fashioned razor and telling him to have a good time.” Now what in the name of St. Andrew does that mean ? Mrs Hezlet, one of the competitors in the ladies’ open championship at Portrush, is 77 years old. She was beaten in the first round during May. Just before the amateur championship in May, E. AY. E. Holderness, who was to win the championship in due course at St. Andrew’s, proved that he was in form for the event by winning the championship of the Civil Sendee with two brilliant rounds of 74 and 75. The programme for the New Zealand ladies’ championship meeting, to be held at St. Andrew’s, Hamilton, from Friday, September 19. to Thursday, September 25, is to hand, and contains the usual interesting items. The championship is by match play over 18 holes, with the final over 36 holes as heretofore. There was some severe criticism of this method of deciding the championship expressed after the close of the meeting at Nelson last year, on the ground that the average lady player is not physically able to maintain her standard of play over 36 holes in one day; and as the matches np to the final are over 18 holes, a good player, and perhaps the best player, may \vin her matches to the final and not he able to last out 36 holes in one day thereafter. In other words, the critics suggested that the final might thus he made a test of strength rather than of science. However that may be, the programme is the same this year. The other events mentioned are the Coronation Medal Handicap; First and Second Bogey Matches; The Donnelly Cup* Club Teams’ 1 Match; L.G.th Challenge

Bowl Match: Four-hall bogey Match; The Inter-Island Teams’ Match', and the Mellsop Cup. Entries close on Wednesday, September 3. Hamilton is not too well equipped with hotel accommodation, and those intending to be at the meeting should make their arrangements early. Three tips for correct play are given by a leading Wellington player,“and they seem adequate. They are: (1) Keep right leg braced until you have hit the bajl (‘2) finish the whole shot with your head still down; (3) finish with left heel back and left knee straight.

Again and again a surprising lack of knowledge of the rules of golf is shown, even by experienced players. A player had played three strokes to his opponent's four, and they were thirty and twenty yards from the green respectively. The man furthest from the hole walked forward, chiefly for the purpose of identifying the balls, and saw just in front of his opponent’s ball a piece of loose gorse lying on the fairway. He picked it- up and threw it away, thereby losing the hole which actually, from the number of strokes played, he should have won. Section 2of Rule 12 applies: “A loose impediment lying more than a. club-length from the ball may not be moved under penalty of the loss of the hole, unless the impediment be on the putting green." The impediment was several club-lengths from the remover’s ball.

A very unusual incident is reported in the Wellington papers. Miss Rowe, a lady player at the Hutt Club, going to the 10th hole, after playing four strokes, holed out with her mashie, the ball striking the pin and falling in the hole. She and her partner went on to the 11th t'ee. Miss Rowe had a mediocre tee shot and played a full mashie second which rushed across the green, hit the pin and dropped in the hole for a two. “I don’t know which class is worst," suggests a writer to the American Golfer, ‘the - slow stubborn four-ball match that won’t let any one through or the match that get s most of its fun passing through every other match on the course. Both are serious handicaps in golf, both being the product of an extreme order of selfishness." Grantland Rice, the editor, goes on to say: ‘‘They are about 50-50 when it comes to wrecking the fun of their club-mates. There should be separate courses, set apart, for the Creeping Pestilences and for the Dancing Dervishes out to set a speed record. Many of the latter begin to rave when they see a match five holes ahead. They can barely restrain themselves until they go dashing through." It is stated that in the Amateur Championship at St. Andrew’s, H. D. Gillies was asked privately but pointedly by members of the committee not to use the tee nine inches high with which he has been experimenting for about a year. There was, however, no official condemnation of the hi eh tee, and, playing in the first round“of the Championship, Gillies used this tee, which consists of five inches of rnbber tubing affixed to a stick of wood four inches long, at the bottom of which is a nail to enable the whole contrivance to he stuck firmly in the ground. Within five minutes of hi s making hi s first drive, the following official notice was posted by the Royal and Ancient Club: The Rules of Golf Committee hopes that golfers before making use of abnormal methods of play or of abnormal implements will earnestly consider whether they are acting in conformity with the spirit of the rules of golf, and in particular with the spirit of the regulations governing the form and make of golf clubs. The committee considers that it is much to lie deplored that players, instead of trying to master the use of golf clubs, should endeavour to overcome the difficulties of the game by using implements which have never been associated with it.

Bowing to officijal opinion. Gillies thereupon gave up using hi s Din tee and its necessary accompaniment—the driver with the face 2.1 inches deep. He felt, he said, that he ought to co-operate with the Rules Committee’s endeavour to check freak methods. He was defeated in the second round of the championship. Playing in the semi-final of the Professional Championship of Australia W. J. Clark, the runner-up, equalled the record for the Royal Svdney course, going roiPid in 69, held by his brother and G E. Howard. Writing of his match with Popplewell, a. Sydney critic says:—“Clark is a player of Very deceptive physique. Short and slight, he does not appear to possess the rower to give him the distance- necessary for first grade golf, but his timing must be perfect-, for, with a short swing—almost a- flick of the wrists—he achieves great length and deadly accuracy. Popplewell, powerfully built, apnears to use his maximum of strength to secure his length, and his style is in direct contrast to that of his opponent."

RESOLUTIONS BY WALTER C HAGEN. Resolution No. I. —“I will always keep my head down.” I dare say it will quickly be broken by 99 per cent of us. We might also add: “I will keep my eye on the ball,” but this goes a long wav with the first resolution. If your head is down it’ s an easy iob to see the ball. Resolution No. 2 is just ag important: “I will not press.” Pressing means usually the fault of getting your body in ahead of your club. Hold the body still until the club-head comes through and hits the ball. Resolution No. 3., £ ‘I will follow through.” Don’t stop your club after it has hit the ball, but let it go along in the track of the ball a s far’a s possible. Resolution No. 4. —‘‘I will keen my balance.” In order to live up to this don’t come up on your toes, either at the top of your swing or in the act of hitting the ball. Settle well back on your heels apj this will give you a' ighanyte to> (get more leverage ini the following through. Resolution No. o.—“I will not put my feet too close together.” Many a good golfer has been ruined by a poor stance. Put your feet well apart and you will find it hard to fall off your balance or commit several other faults that are entirely due to this. Resolution No. G has to do with concentration: —‘‘I -will keep my mind on the play at all times.” If you cannot take the game seriously you can never hope to get any place. Resolution No. 7. — ‘‘l will relax.” Too many golfers stiffen up when they start to hit the ball, and this causes no end of trouble. The 3’outh gets more distance out of his shots because t he is not “so tight,” and gets all that is possible into the swing. Put into effect these seven golden resolutions and you will be surnrised how your game will lie benefited. GEORGE DUNCAN AT FORTY. The triumph of George Duncan (now 40 years of age) in the "big 100f> guineas ment was strictly characteristic of this Glenengles Glasgow Herald tournaereat and picturesque golfer (says a Home paper), whose genius for the game has from time to time blazed out with a. splendour that has easily eclipsed the greatest deeds of his con-

temporaries, he they British, American or Australian. The dashing Abeerdonian’s forte lies mainly in his amazing ability to convert forlorn hopes into the most signal victories, and that on the greatest occasions. ’ Take his wonderful win in the open championship four years ago. His present victim in the final at Gleneagles, Abe Mitchell, was the outstanding golfer that and on the first day played so magnificently that his finai victory looked a foregone conclusion. The North 1 oreland professional was six strokes ahead of the field, of which Duncan was an unconspicuous unit no fewer than 13 strokes behind. But the indomitable George stepped on to the links on . the second morning with the frenzy full upon him, and played from start- to finish with incredible elan and actually finished four strokes up on Mitchell and two strokes ahead of the bewildered field. Two year§ ago at, S.t. Andrew’s, in the Daily Mail contest, he was in the ruck again with but 18 holes to go. He then Hashed out in a wonderful round of •'four s&rokes. A.ga|n, the \year before last, with the honour of his country at stake, for the great Yankee Walter Hagen’s position at the head of the field seemed unassailable, Duncan was faced with the necessity of repeating that score to tie with* the invader—and there was half a gale blowing! He: had taken 81 i\u the* morning. The draw had placed him absolutely last on the list, and before he went out the board showed the lamentable, record:

1 — Walter Hagen (U.S.A.) 300 2 “Jim" Barnes (U.S.A.) 301 3 “Jock" Hutchison (U.S.A.) 302 As already stated, George needed a 68 to tie. A small, hopeful hand v of admirers followed him, and they had to do it at the trot, for.- Duncan has a raking strike, and sehews preliminaries. Such golf as he played was never seen. He had missed 3 fatal putts at the first three holes—the rest of his round, right up to the last green, was an unbroken chain of super strokes. At the long holes he banged his full iron shots right up to the pin, and was putting for one below par. He arrived on the last tee, wanting but a par four to fulfil his mission. A great drive and iron s shot, and the hall finished just in the rough on the edge of the green. He was woefully short with his run .up — it was his first real mistake, but he nearly holed the putt. His great adventure had failed by two inches, but it was a failure of absolutely unique magnificence, THE WAY TO IMPROVE. One reason that so few people practise in solitude—a sure way to cultivate skill at the- game—(says a great player) is that the person who goes to the course determined upon such a procedure is nearly sure to meet somebody who says: “If you haven’t got a match I’ll play you." It is difficult to refuse if one has the w’hole morning or afternoon to spare; there is a consciousness that to do so -would look foolish or churlish. It is sometimes remarked that whereas many amateurs as well as professional billiard players spend hours every week practising, golfers seldom do anything in this direction. The simple truth is that the billiards enthusiast who has a table of his own is not likely to be interrupted, whereas the golfer who visits a, course where he is a

member is nearly sure to be asked to take part- in a match. TO-DAY’S GOLFERS. i Writing with the benefit of his long experience in first class golf, Andrew Kirkcaldy says: —“I hope I do not see the merits of the former champions through the spectacles that make a- veteran think that the men of his time wore the best, but I most certainly believe that present-day golf is lacking such consistent excellence as Mr. John Ball, Mr. Harold Hilton, Mr. J. E. Laidley and the late Lieutenant F. G„ Tait displayed when they were at their zenith. L would set them down as the best amateur players I have ever seen. The modern amateur of the front rank are wonderful drivers, but they lack the control in iron shots and putts which their predecessors showed. Particularly is this the case with regard to putting. 1 would say that what, the leading golfers of the present time need most to practice is the putt of ten or fifteen yards. You never know how far they are going to finish from the hole, whereas the champions of former times were almost as regular as clockwork in laying these putts within a- foot or eighteen inches of the pin. It was arare incident when they failed to' do so. These old players were also superior in getting near to the hole with, thej • iron shots, especially on a windy and difficult day. Mr. Ball and Mr. 'Hilton were especially accurate in this respect. The weakness of their successors is that sometimes, when everything cc::o* iff. they accomplish very brilliant rounds and think that there is no need for them to practice. But the next day they are just as erratic. Still, they leave things to chance, and when, a little later, another streak of first-class golf presents itself to them, they are completely satisfied with this best of fortune in the best of all possible worlds.

The champions of twenty years or so ago were complete masters of the technique of iron play and putting. The game was unquestionably more difficult in those days of the gutta- percha ball, but the leading men who played it then had a degree of control over it which one never sees nowadays. Mr E. W. E. Holderness. the new champion, is undoubtedly a very fine player. With him I would bracket Mr. R. H. Wethered and Mr C. J. H. Tolley as the outstanding amateurs of their generation, and I would nominate Mr. Wethered as in a class by himself when he is at the top of his form. He seems to me this year to have shortened his hack swing in some measure and to he straining for the effect of the straight left arm. This is very excellent, within reason, where iron shots a,re concerned, but he appears .also to be applying the theory to hig driving. Whether the curtailment of the upswing had anything to do with the periods of erratic driving which settled on him at St. Andrews I do not know. Anyhow, there is the change as it appeared to me. At the same time, Mr. Wethered appeals to me as being a better putter than he was a year or so ago. He has greater command over the ball than ho showed when last I saw him at St. Andrew’s. There are many splendid points in his game, some of which may have been acquired during his early, experience of it, when I believe., he played a good deal with Mr. Laidlay, but he has yet to learn to he as consistent as that golfer and his contemporaries."